Oil field work?

I'm wanting to start trucking in nd I'm looking into hauling oil,I need advice on weather I should buy a sleeper,or day hauler I have a friend that will put me up in dickenson would love some advise I want to own my own truck is it do able?

 

Don't buy a truck to bring it to nd. You will destroy it on these goat trails. You can make plenty of money destroying someone else's truck

 

This has been my experience:


Driving OTR for decent mega carrier:
70 hours/week, benefits, solitude, constantly seeing new sights and $1200-1300 per working week


Hauling water for a disreputable outfit in ND:
100 hours/week, sub zero weather, constantly handling toxic 'water', very little 'driving', everything costs more, locals resent you being there, & $1800 per working week (2000+ if you hauled illegal weights), no benefits, dealing with people every hour, seeing the same wells & SWDs over and over...


It wasn't worth it for me -- especially when that additional $500-600 distilled down to an extra $200 take-home after paying ND, CA, & Fed taxes @ a higher bracket... All for an extra 30 hours of work? And having to fly to get home? no thanks.

Now the oil field would have been better if I waited until I had 6 months experience & then went to work for a reputable company paying hourly & providing benefits. But I didn't think I could maintain a clean record that long driving for the company I was working for and I didn't want to move to ND which most of the hourly companies wanted. So since I didn't really like the work (it was just OK whereas I like OTR), I went back over the road.

 

I am not in agreement with the water haulers here for a few reasons to think about. 50-75% of your time will be spent a the hole, that means off road............never really know how far till you get there the 1st time. These are moderately labor intensive jobs in the summer, factor in the winter and -30 + water =.....Need I say more? And as you can see by the pay stubs involve many hours of overtime.

There are plenty of jobs hauling gas Y grade or propane all on road and your basic 70/34 OTR work week. Hazmat and experience are required of course but the pay is as good or better in many cases. These a usually radius haul no more than 300-400 miles in any direction from Minot ND

 

Yes!!